


Planes of Existence

by XtinaJones91



Category: The Good Place (TV)
Genre: Afterlife, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Depressing, Developing Relationship, Drama, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Ethical Dilemmas, F/M, Family, Fluff and Angst, Guilt, Past Lives, Plot Twists, Possible Character Death, Romance, slight AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-26
Updated: 2018-12-15
Packaged: 2019-08-29 13:31:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16744921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XtinaJones91/pseuds/XtinaJones91
Summary: Chidi discovers something from one of the reboots that completely derails his and Eleanor's lives and sends the Soul Squad on another unexpected journey through time and space.





	1. Chidi's Discovery

**Author's Note:**

> This is a scenario that's been tossing around in my head for awhile and I finally decided to write it. I have no idea where this story is headed, but I'll figure it out as I go along.
> 
> WARNING: this does contain what could be considered sensitive subject matter related to death depending on how you might view the rules/parameters of the Good Place and the Bad Place.

He finds out by accident.

After they’ve fought off Shawn and the demons in the bar, been yanked into Janet’s void and nearly (actually?) killed in the process, after Eleanor has confessed her feelings for him, told him she _loves_ him - in the middle of all of that he finds a moment to be alone with Michael.

He knows there are about five hundred and thirty-three million other things they should be concerned with right now, but he needs to know. He needs to see it for himself.

So he makes Michael show him some of the hundreds of reboots they went through together. It’s probably the most forcefully demanding he’s ever been in his life, and he feels a bit bad about it after he shouts at Michael and yanks the earplug contraption from his hands. But all of that fades away when he puts in the plugs and he finally gets to see it.

He watches them find each other and fall in love over and over and over. Some of the reboots are too short for anything to develop between them, but the majority of them last long enough for at least the spark of something to be there.

Michael tries to pull him out of it, something about overloading his neural pathways, but he’s transfixed and refuses to stop.

He keeps watching, snippets of lives - _after_ lives - that he can’t remember play out like some bizarre home video. Most of it flashes by at a fairly rapid pace; random moments slow down to what feels like real time.

Scenes of him and Eleanor flick across his eyes - first kisses, first dates, first fights as a couple, first makeup sex sessions, everyday moments where they’re just _being_ , and then he sees it. Or, more accurately, he sees  _her_.

A baby girl.

He feels a jolt throughout his entire body, and everything just...stops.

Because there’s Eleanor, in some version of the reboots, sitting up in bed, cradling a pink bundle in her arms, smiling down at it like it’s the most amazing, perfect thing in the whole universe, and there _he_ is, sitting right next to her on the edge of the bed, the same smitten look on his face, seeing his daughter for the first time.

Their daughter.

They have - had? - a daughter.

He rips the plugs from his ears and throws them down on the table. His whole body shakes.

Michael immediately reaches for him but he pulls away.

“Chidi. Chidi. What is it? What did you see?”  
  
And if he felt remorse for his behavior toward Michael earlier, that quickly evaporates and is replaced with a feeling of utter betrayal and a rage deeper than he has ever known.

Michael must sense the shift because he shrinks back and has the decency to look at least a little bit frightened.

His fists clench and unclench, the image of what he just witnessed burned into his brain.

He looks up from the table and gives Michael a glare that he hopes comes off as enraged and seething as he currently feels.

“Chidi, buddy, what is it?”

“We - Eleanor and I - we have a daughter.”  
  
Michael’s face pales; he takes a tentative step forward.

“We have a _daughter_ and you - you never told us. A _child_ , Michael. Me and Eleanor. In one of the reboots. And you never said a word. You just went on, pretending to help us, to care about us, _knowing_ all this time about us, about her.”  
  
“I can explain -”

“What happened to her?”

“Chidi…”  
  
“What happened.”

“I really don’t think -”  
  
“Tell me what you did to her!”

His fist slams onto the table and Michael jumps back.

Behind him, the door to the room they’ve snuck off to swings open.  
  
“Guys? What’s going on in here? I heard shouting and thumping and - Chidi?”

There’s a flash of blonde hair as Eleanor rushes to his side. Her concerned face fills his field of vision and interrupts his stare down of Michael.

She puts a hand lightly on his arm.

“Are you okay?”  
  
His jaw clenches. He doesn’t trust himself to speak, doesn’t even know how or where to begin.

Eleanor’s eyes dart from him to the table and then to Michael. The ear plugs lie in plain sight, a blatantly obvious indicator of what has transpired.

“What did you show him, Michael?”

“I - I didn’t show him anything. He wanted to look. Wanted to see it for himself. I told him to stop. He wouldn’t listen.”  
  
He shoves his chair away from the table and leaps up.

“You’re a _liar_ ,” he seethes at Michael.

Eleanor’s head whips from Michael back to him, her face a mix of shock and fear.

“Chidi. What are you talking about?”

He gulps, knows there’s only one thing he can do to explain this to her, to make her understand.

“Do you trust me?” he asks, voice soft again. Inside he cracks and breaks apart, knows that what he’s about to do to her is going to hurt her, but he has no other choice.

She nods.

“Yes, of course.”

“Sit,” he says, and pulls up his chair.

She takes the seat, back straight and hands in her lap.

He crouches down in front of her and takes her small hands in his.

“No matter what...plane of existence we’re on” he says, “remember that I love you, too”

Eleanor’s eyes widen at his confession, and all he wants to do is kiss her right now, but he can’t. Not when he knows and she doesn’t.

“I know you probably want to talk about it and then make out for a bit, but you need to see this first. I’m sorry.”  
  
He turns away from her and grabs the ear plugs off the table. On the other side of the room Michael watches, apprehensive.

“Chidi -”  
  
“Please just take them. I need you to take them.”  
  
“I will, I will, but Chidi, you’re freaking me out, man. At least let me know what I’m walking into here.”

“It’s...something I discovered from one of the reboots where we were...together. Something neither of us knew about, at least not until now. I need you to put those in your ears and watch it, Eleanor. Please.”  
  
“Okay, okay. I’ll do it.”  
  
She sticks out her hands and accepts the plugs.

Their eyes lock with one another as she raises them to her ears. He nods, she nods back.

“See you on the other side, nerd,” she says, and sticks in the plugs.


	2. What Eleanor Saw

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who has read, reviewed and decided to come along for the ride!
> 
> This chapter is from Eleanor's POV and addresses what she sees in the reboot that Chidi discovered.

At first, it’s not what she expects and she doesn’t get why Chidi was making such a big deal about it.

She’s dropped into a reboot she hasn’t seen before. She’s in what must have been her house this time around, the lights in the living room dimmed low. There’s two empty bottles of wine on the coffee table and a pair of glasses that still have unfinished liquid in them.

Laughter comes from the couch and she turns her attention that way.

Reboot-Eleanor and Reboot-Chidi are giggling between slightly sloppy kisses, both of their shirts discarded haphazardly on the floor.

Despite having seen them in much more compromising positions than this one on the infamous  _ Cannonball Run 2 _ tape, she still feels a blush creep up her neck. She gets temporarily distracted by Chidi’s abs, and so it takes her a moment to realize that things have heated up between the reboot versions of herself and Chidi. 

They’re fumbling to take off each other’s pants, laughter bubbling up between them as Chidi tries to shimmy out of his slacks and they both nearly tumble to the floor.

With their combined efforts they finally manage it and settle back on the couch, Eleanor beneath Chidi. Things are quiet between them now, laughter giving way to an unexpected seriousness.

She feels like an intruder in a private, intimate moment and wants to look away, but she can’t. She’s seeing this for a reason.

She focuses her full attention on the couple on the couch.

Reboot-Chidi looks down at Reboot-Eleanor. She strains her ears to hear their conversation.

“Eleanor...do you...are you...is this what you want?”

Eleanor reaches for Chidi’s face, cups his cheek in her hand.

“Yes, absolutely” she answers, voice strong with conviction. “But what about you? Are you sure?”

Chidi kisses Eleanor, a soft peck on the lips.

“I’ve never been more sure about anything.”

Reboot-Eleanor’s eyes sparkle and she swipes at the tears condensing in her own.

Before things can progress any further, the scene fades away and jumps forward, yanking her along with it. 

Now she’s in a bathroom, hovering behind Reboot-Eleanor as she stares down at something in her hands.

In the exact moment she thinks it, Reboot-Eleanor says it:   
  
“Oh, fork.”

While Reboot-Eleanor proceeds to freak out and drop a string of faux-Good-Place-censored profanities, her own stomach drops and her heart races at the implications of the positive pregnancy test Reboot-Eleanor holds in her hands.

Before she can even begin to process all of this, the scene changes again. A montage of images plays before her and assaults her senses: moments of a pregnancy she doesn’t remember, an afterlife she lived in for what was apparently months, Chidi right alongside her through all of it.

The montage slows and halts on a particular moment. Tears stream down her face uncontrollably as she tries to focus on what’s in front of her.

It’s herself and Chidi, standing over a bassinet and cooing down at a baby - a baby girl who is unmistakably their daughter.

Her and Chidi’s child.

In one of the reboots, she - they - actually had a child.

She feels numb with the shock of it all, unable to process the onslaught of emotions welling up inside of her.

She stares at something she never thought she wanted - a partner, a child, a  _ family  _ \- and aches with a powerful need for it. Can you mourn something you never really had?

Reboot-Chidi finishes his quiet rendition of what must be a Senegalese lullaby and wraps his arms around Reboot-Eleanor.

“Man, you have got the baby-whisperer voice of an angel,” Eleanor says to him.   
  
He chuckles softly.

“Well, it always seemed to put you to sleep in class.”   
  
“Like mother, like daughter.”

They share a smile and stare down at the sleeping baby for a few more moments. Eleanor reaches into the bassinet and tucks the baby’s blanket tightly around her.

“Goodnight, Penny,” Eleanor whispers.

“Sweet dreams,  mon chéri ,” Chidi adds.

She wants to stay here in this moment forever, doesn’t want to leave and face her reality. She can feel the pull of the device tugging her away. She tries to fight it, tries to push back, but it’s much stronger than she is.

The scene in front of her starts to fade out of existence. There’s a harsh buzzing and ringing in her ears, and underneath the commotion a voice calling her name.

With a gasp and a desperate shout she returns to the present moment. Overwhelmed and disoriented, her frantic eyes find Chidi -  _ real Chidi _ \- and lock on. She flings herself into his arms and clings to him.

He is safe and solid and real. He rocks her and calms her as sobs wrack her body. She feels torn apart from the inside out, Chidi the only thing grounding her.

“I’m sorry,” he repeats to her, over and over.

She wants to tell him that it’s not his fault, he’s done nothing wrong, but she can’t stop crying long enough to get the words out.

Finally, she gets her breath back and her tears subside. She looks up at Chidi and sees that his eyes are wet. She remembers she’s not the only one who lost something in all this. Penny was his daughter, too. 

“Did you see her?” Chidi asks.

She swallows and nods. 

“She was... _ is _ …amazing,” he says.

She nods again, and finds her voice.

“Penelope,” she says.

Chidi’s eyes dart to hers.

“What?”   
  
“Her name.”   
  
Chidi makes a choked sobbing sound.

“We called her Penny.”

He grabs her hands. It is her turn now to be his anchor.

“Penny,” he sighs. “It’s perfect.”

She smiles at him and tries not to cry again.

“Are you...are you okay?” he asks.

“No, not really,” she responds. “Are you?”

He laughs and she laughs along with him, at her own candidness, at the absurdity of their situation, at the sheer insanity that they’ve been through.

“No,” Chidi answers between near-hysterical laughs. “No I’m not.”

“I’m glad we’re on the same page,” she chuckles, breathing deeply to get herself back under control.

Behind them, a throat clears.

Together they turn as one toward Michael, eyes narrowed, faces marked with determined rage.

Michael holds up his hands in self-defense.

“Guys, I can explain.”

Eleanor rises, body alive with a simmering energy.

She advances on Michael.

“Start talking, bub. And now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woooo sorry if this strayed a bit into the melodramatic.
> 
> For those who have been curious and asked about this in their reviews, the upcoming chapter will explain my logic for how and why I think this could be feasible in the Bad Place/Good Place.


	3. Michael Explains It All

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok. I'm still freaking about the "Janet(s)" episode. I won't say anything else in case there's folks out there who haven't seen it yet (seriously, stop reading this and go watch it), but....GAH!!!
> 
> Thank you again to everyone who has read, commented, kudo'd, etc. It means a lot. I hope you enjoy where this goes next, and find Michael's reasons for what he did to be satisfactory/make some sort of sense.
> 
> There's a decent amount of dialogue ahead.

Eleanor stands defiantly before Michael, fists clenched and ready to pounce. He thinks she might actually hit Michael. He doesn't think he'd stop her; he kind of wants to hit Michael himself. Or at the very least give him a vigorous shake.

Michael inches back from Eleanor the slightest bit.  
  
"Eleanor," Michael says, "Chidi. I know you're angry -"   
  
" _Angry_ doesn't begin to cover it,” Eleanor interrupts. “Angry is how I feel when I fly to Vegas for a Rihanna concert and get kicked out before she plays 'Umbrella.' Angry is how I feel when they cut me off from the shrimp cocktail at a party. This...this isn’t anger. This is rage, Michael. It's betrayal. It's disbelief that someone who you thought was your friend would do something so horrible to you and hide it from you."   
  
He takes a step forward, hovers behind Eleanor in a way that he hopes conveys his support, his agreement with her words.   
  
"That's how I -" she reaches for his hand and he willingly takes it. She glances at him for a moment and he gives her a nod of acknowledgement and solidarity. "That's how _we_ feel."   
  
Michael looks gutted by Eleanor's words and he can't help but feel a tiny bit of pity for him again.   
  
"I understand, and you have every right to feel that way, Eleanor. What I did was... inexcusable. But you have to believe that I did it for a reason and if I'd had another choice I would have taken it. We - I - didn't have a lot of options. And truthfully the whole thing was entirely unprecedented and unexpected."   
  
Michael gestures toward the couch in the room.   
  
"Can we sit and talk? I'll tell you everything."   
  
They both nod.   
  
"That's all we want," Eleanor responds.   
  
He and Eleanor settle onto the couch; she hasn't let go of his hand and he finds he quite likes the sensation of how it fits so perfectly with his own. It's natural to him almost immediately, like breathing or holding a book.   
  
Michael pulls up a chair across from them. He clears his throat and fidgets nervously.   
  
"Well, I guess it's best to start at the beginning. If you have any questions - which I'm sure you will - please hold them until the end when you've heard all of what I have to say. Otherwise this will derail immediately."   
  
"Sure, we get it. You talk, we listen. Tell us what happened to our daughter. Tell us about Penny."   
  
His heart clenches and flips as Eleanor says the words. They slide right out of her mouth like she's been saying them every day of her life, like it's normal and right. It doesn't freak him out as much as it should; it feels right to him, too.   
  
Michael folds his hands and a faraway smile flits across his face.   
  
"Yes, Penny. Right. So, as you've both already seen, in this particular version of the reboots, you were once again drawn to each other. This time it was more of a slow burn thing where everyone else but you two knuckleheads could see how you felt about each other and really it took you foreverrrr to get together but anyways, I digress.   
  
You finally 'hooked up', as humans say, but you weren't officially dating or anything right away, which also infuriated everyone else to no end, but that's besides the point.   
  
You had your fling and kept spending time together and then Eleanor got what she thought was food poisoning from some bad shrimp at one of Tahani's parties, but then realized (with lots of help from Janet), that she did not in fact have food poisoning. Janet convinced you to take a test (you were adamant about doing it the old fashioned human way where you pee on a stick and then wait 3 minutes. Disgusting really.), and, as you were starting to suspect, you were indeed pregnant and did not have shrimp-induced food poisoning."   
  
"How did I not realize at that point that we were in the Bad Place?" Eleanor asks.   
  
Michael gives her a look.   
  
"Right, right, no questions until the end. Go on."   
  
"As I was saying, when you and Chidi consummated your not-quite relationship, he somehow managed to impregnate you."   
  
"Oh my God, gross. Never say those words in that order ever again."   
  
Michael shrugs.   
  
"It's what happened. Anyways, that naturally sent both you and Chidi into a tailspin. I won't go into the details of how he ended up finding out about it, that's for another time. Neither of you were sure what to do, so you came to me for help.   
  
Honestly, despite how horribly everything had been going and how many unexpected things kept happening, this one still managed to throw me for a loop. After much thought and analysis, I realized we hadn't accounted for several things when constructing my experimental neighborhood.   
  
Normally when humans end up in the Bad Place, they are tortured alone and not grouped with others. We'd already run into a multitude of unaccounted for behaviors by putting the four of you together.   
  
Since they are isolated from one another, there's no opportunities for humans in the Bad Place to...commingle, if you will. So we hadn't really thought about the potential consequences of that. We also figured you'd dislike your soulmates enough that you'd never actually get to that point in your relationships. But apparently humans are horny and will shack up with just about anyone if you give them long enough. Take Jason and Tahani for example."

Eleanor makes a mock gagging face next to him and he chuckles at her antics before turning his attention back to Michael.  
  
"Demons reproduce in a method much...different from humans, so we were also a bit blind in our knowledge of the mechanics of how that all works for you guys. Combine those factors with the sometimes miraculous nature of how life finds a way, and...here we are."

Michael ends the first part of his explanation and he feels a bit overwhelmed by it all. A million questions pop up in his brain vying for attention. In true fashion, he can’t decide which one to ask first. Luckily, as she always does, Eleanor jumps right in and forges ahead.  
  
"Okay, that explains _how_ this all happened, but what about what came next, you know, after we actually had the baby?"   
  
"I'm getting there. You and Chidi were in agreement about keeping the baby. You were both terrified, but you stuck together. At this point I was frantically trying to keep the reboot going without everything falling apart or having to reset things again while also working with Janet to figure out how to handle the baby situation.   
  
There was no blueprint to follow because it had never happened before, and we were already flying by the seats of our pants (I love that idiom) in terms of all the reboots. We were very much just hypothesizing and making things up as we went along.   
  
Nine months passed in the blink of an eye (for Janet and me at least), and suddenly she was here - Penelope Hume Britney Anagonye Shellstrop. Penny, for short."   
  
"Three middle names? We gave her three middle names?" he exclaims - it’s the first thought that pops into his head, and the first thing he’s said in awhile.   
  
Michael rolls his eyes.   
  
"Of course you did. It's you guys. Chidi, you wanted a philosopher name and Eleanor conceded if she also got to add Britney, in honor of her idol and emergency contact. Given that she was the one carrying the child, you really had no choice but to grant her request. You did, however, veto Eleanor on adding 'the third' to the end of her name."   
  
"Aw nuts, that would've been dope," Eleanor says as she smacks his arm petulantly.   
  
He gives her an are-you-kidding-me look.   
  
"You're no fun," she gives back as a response and sticks out her tongue.   
  
"Did you hear the rest of her name? I think we saddled her with enough lifelong trauma as it is."   
  
Eleanor looks down and tucks her hair behind her ear shyly.   
  
"I like it,” she says, voice quiet as she shrugs in the way she does when she's trying to act nonchalant.

Well, fork. He really put his foot in his mouth with that one.

He turns toward her and squeezes her hand until she looks up.

“I like it, too,” he says.

“You're just saying that cuz you feel bad.”

He shakes his head.

“Nope. Well, yes, I do feel bad for making you think I didn't like the name, but I do honestly like it. All three middle names included. It's...us. It's perfect.”

Her posture changes and she unfolds herself.

“Yeah, it is.”

The smile she gives him makes him feel like he's staring straight at the sun.

Michael claps his hands together.

“Great, now that that's settled, let's move on.”

They both turn their attention back to Michael.

“Right, yeah, carry on,” Eleanor agrees.

“After Penny was born, time was really starting to run out. I was afraid I'd have to reboot things at any moment and Janet and I were still working out the kinks of what we had decided was our one viable plan.

Things carried on for about six more weeks until we had no choice but to act.

The night we rebooted the four of you, we also drugged you and Chidi.”

“You _roofied_ us?!?”

“I'm sorry, _what_?”

Michael waves them off.

“It was harmless stuff, and you were rebooted before you even knew it so it really wasn't a big deal.”

“Wasn't a big deal? You drugged us against our will and then did - wait, why exactly did you drug us if you were just going to reboot us?” he asks Michael.

“If you'd let me _finish_ ,” Michael responds, annoyed. “We had to take Penny without you knowing before we rebooted you. The only way we could do that without you noticing and then promptly freaking out, which would have alerted everyone else to what we were doing, was to slip something into your drinks before you went to bed. Then Janet booped into your room, took Penny to the Medium Place, and booped back right before the reboot.”

He feels Eleanor goes stiff beside him.

“I'm sorry, did you just say you sent our _six-week-old_ daughter to the mother forking _Medium Place_? As in, Mindy St. Claire's _crack den_ Medium Place?”

“Derek's there too now, so it's not just Mindy.”

“Is that supposed to make us feel better?” Eleanor hisses back.

“Yes?” Michael answers unconvincingly.

“Well it doesn't!”

Internally, his brain runs through every possible scenario of how this is all going to play out. He doesn’t like most of them. He stands abruptly, accidentally yanks his hand from Eleanor’s, and strides away to the corner of the room where he immediately starts to pace. Behind him, Eleanor and Michael continue to bicker, but it’s mere background noise to him, a harmless buzzing in his ears.

He is stuck on the fact that their daughter is in the Medium Place. How are they going to get her? _Can_ they even get her? What happens to someone that stays in the Medium Place for a long time? Mindy doesn’t seem to have aged - will Penny stay six weeks old forever? What is that like for a baby? Do they even understand? Does she miss them? Does she even know who they are? Who is taking care of her? He really hopes it isn’t Mindy...or Derek. Neither of them are fit to care for themselves let alone a baby. What if they can’t go back to the Medium Place? They’re so close to finally getting into the Good Place. All of it feels wrong. And he doesn’t know what to do or how to fix it or if they’ll ever see their daughter again and - oh God - his stomach is cramping and he’s hyperventilating and he needs to sit down or he’s going to pass out and he really doesn’t want to do that - oh God, oh no, why, why, why is this happening to him and -

“Chidi! Chidi! Hey, buddy. Chidi. Breathe. It’s me. It’s Eleanor. Listen to my voice, okay? I need you to take deep breaths for me, bud. Big breaths. Follow my lead. In…..and out….just like that. In…..and out...good job. Do a couple more, bud. You’re doing great. There ya go. Here, Michael’s got a chair for you, why don’t we sit ya down into it. Nice and easy…and done. Feels a lot better, huh? Nod once for ‘yes.’ You can’t nod and shake at the same time, that’s confusing. I’m sure that’s a more accurate representation of your mental state right now, but help me out here, bud. Okay, good, there’s a nod. That’s my guy.”

He blinks a few times and Eleanor hovers back into focus. Her face peers down from above him, a mixture of concern and fondness. When he’s sitting down, she’s nearly at eye level with him. Sometimes he forgets how short she actually is. Her personality is so larger-than-life; in his mind she towers over everyone else in the room.

“Hey,” she says.

“Hey,” he says back, breaths still a little shallow.

She puts a hand on his shoulder.

“How ya feeling?”  
  
“Better,” he answers.

“Good,” she smiles, and then leans forward to press a kiss to the top of his head.

A tingly, warm feeling spreads throughout his body and he feels himself calm down almost immediately.

“Th-thanks,” he manages to stammer. He wants to say more, but he doesn’t know how to put it into words, to explain to her what it is that she does to him, how much she means to him.

“Anytime, bud.”

She steps back and extends her hand out to him.

He looks at it inquisitively, not sure what she wants him to do, where she wants him to go. His brain is still trying to catch up to the rest of his body.

“Let’s go get our girl.”

His eyes lock with hers. A resolved determination emanates from every fiber of her being. He is in awe of her.

He wipes his hands on his pants and stands.

Her own hand still waits in the space between them. He sees her resolve flicker for a moment while she waits for him to make a decision.

He wants to snuff out her insecurity, make her see that he is _in this_.

He takes her hand and grips it like the lifeline that it is.

“Let’s get our girl.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love my precious chili babies and I just want them to be happy. Leave a note if you have feelings you need to talk about. Bonus points if you catch the Lost reference (which was actually unintentional and then became too perfect to pass up).


	4. Hallway Interlude

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a short little interlude before we move on to more plot-heavy things.
> 
> WARNING: Sap-filled fluff ahead

He follows Eleanor into the hallway. Michael has gone on ahead of them to round up the others. Eleanor seems intent on blazing onward, but he needs a minute. They’re about to drop another massive bombshell on their friends after what has been an endless stream of bombshells in the last...whoever knows how long.

He’s not quite ready for it. And he doesn’t think Eleanor is either; she’s just putting on a brave face like always and pretending that everything is fine.

He tugs her back gently and she spins around, one eyebrow quirked in an unspoken question.

He doesn’t say anything right away, just stares at her and takes her in, this crazy shrimp lady who bulldozed her way into his life.

“What’s up?” she asks. His silence has apparently gone on too long for her liking.

“I’m...not ready to face them all just yet. There’s still a  _ lot _ to process and I know we need to talk to them, but can we just...wait a few minutes?”

She practically deflates before his eyes, sheds her veneer of confidence and her let’s-take-on-the-world attitude.

He steps forward and catches her in his arms. She sags into him, buries her face in his shoulder and sighs, world-weary and exhausted.

He rubs his hands up and down her back, holds her as close as he can without squeezing too tight. She smells like lemongrass, vanilla, and the desert - a scent he’s grown to recognize and crave without even realizing it.

They stand like that for awhile, holding onto each other and not saying anything. He’s frankly run out of words to describe how he feels about everything that has happened, and continues to happen, to them.

“I’m glad it’s you,” Eleanor murmurs.

He looks down at her in slight confusion.

“That I’m doing this with,” she elaborates. “I mean, not that I  _ want _ you to have to go through all this extra crazy shirt. There’s already been so much, just one insane thing after the next, but if I had to pick one person to be my afterlife, alternate dimension baby daddy...it would be you.”

He knows this is her way of indirectly telling him how she feels about him, reaffirming what she confessed to him in the moments before they thought they were going to die. The fight in the bar back on Earth feels like it was ages ago. His world’s been flipped on its head at least three or four times since then. He feels discombobulated about a lot of things; Eleanor isn’t one of them.

“I...am taking that as a compliment,” he begins. “Possibly the most bizarre compliment I’ve ever received…” 

Eleanor laughs; he goes on. 

“...but also the one I am most honored to get. I, uh, know this is statistically speaking probably the worst time for something like this, but I don’t care what logic or reason or philosophy says right now. I’m tired of...of overthinking everything, of missing out on so many amazing, wonderful things in life because I listened to my head and not my heart.”   
  
He shakes his head in frustration. He’s not saying this right. Eleanor looks up at him expectantly, eyes wide and shining.

He takes a deep breath and centers himself.

“I want to be with you, Eleanor Shellstrop. All the time. Every day. And apparently in every life, too.”

Eleanor lets out a sound that’s something between a laugh and a cry. His heart thumps wildly in his chest.

“Do you...is that what you want, too?”

He has no time to react to what happens next. Eleanor tugs him forward and simultaneously pushes up on her toes. Their lips mash together and it takes him a second to realize that she’s kissing him and he should probably kiss her back. So he does.

When they eventually pull apart, they both grin at each other - that dopey smile of new love plastered on their faces.

“Does that answer your question, ya doof?” Eleanor says.

He laughs, wide and free, like he’s floating on air.

“Yes, it most certainly does.”   
  
He pulls her back toward him so that her body is flush with his own.

“But just to be sure,” he says, voice lowered, “I think you should tell me one more time.”

Her hand wraps around the back of his neck.

“I guess I could do that, wouldn’t want there to be any confusion.”

Their faces hover inches apart from each other, noses nearly brushing.

“According to Descartes’ process of methodological skepticism -”

Eleanor silences him with her lips.

He thinks he could get used to this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> P.S. All of your kind and hilarious comments give me life. Thank you <3


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